1. Field
The present invention generally relates to mobile communication devices, and more particularly to systems, methods, and computer program products for managing processing of sets of instructions on or for mobile devices.
2. Related Art
In a mobile commerce environment, service provider transactions, accounts, products and the like often are stored and processed in a mobile wallet application on a client (e.g., customer) mobile device. A service provider is a company, organization, entity or the like that provides services to customers or consumers. Examples of service providers include account-issuing entities such as banks, merchants, card associations, marketing companies, and transit authorities. A service may be, for example, an applet, application, set of applications or set of code providing an activity, capability, functionality, work, or use permitted or provided by a service provider, such as a payment service, credit, debit, checking, gift, offer or loyalty service, transit pass service, and the like.
Thus, services corresponding to respective service providers may be stored on a mobile device. For example, a service offered by a service provider (e.g., a bank) may be enabled on a mobile device in order to conduct a transaction using that service and/or credential. A customer may then use the mobile device to conduct a transaction, such as a contactless payment, at a point-of-sale, although numerous other transactions or interactions are also possible.
Often, service providers release updates or modifications of services. For example, new versions of a service may be released to incorporate updates or changes, fix bugs in previous versions, or apply a security patch. More generally, a service provider or other entity may wish to install a new service on the mobile device, transmit messages to the mobile device, or otherwise interact with the mobile device to execute processing for services.
Difficulties can arise in the context of executing processing for services on a mobile device. For example, existing technologies may perform steps to cause the mobile device to communicate with (or reach out to or contact) a mobile commerce platform or a service provider in order to obtain (e.g., download) assets such as service updates. It is not uncommon for a user to be required to connect to a mobile commerce system and request an update. As a consequence, unless the user is diligent in seeking out and requesting services, updates, or the like, these assets are left unused. Moreover, a significant burden is created for the user. As an additional matter, timing for conducting updates and the like can be sub-optimal or even impossible if the mobile device is often disconnected from the network, busy, or otherwise not fully available. And, while auto updating may be used to execute updates on a mobile device requiring reduced user interaction, it may not be used to process any functions and/or instructions available for mobile devices.
Therefore, one technical challenge involves providing services, updates, communications, or other assets to a mobile device at a time when such assets are not specifically requested by a user of the mobile device. Another technical challenge involves providing such assets to the mobile device at an appropriate timing (such as at night, if the mobile device is busy during the day). Still another technical challenge involves providing those assets by processing instructions individually or independently for each mobile device in a case where processing is requested for a large group of mobile devices (e.g., all mobile devices of a particular model).